iPad mini Gift for 10-year-olds: Kindle Fire HD, iPad Mini, or iPad Mini Retina?

[Badrottie]

Economics of course do play part into this question, but also want to get my kids each one of these that makes most sense. They each also have an iPod Touch 5th Gen.

For a tablet, their use will be reading Kindle books (they each have old Kindles that can transfer the books from the cloud onto any of these devices), watching some videos (Amazon Prime Instant Videos, Xfinity, ESPN), playing little games, and can grab their Gmail from time to time. I don't think web browsing would be a high % activity.

Obviously the iPad can do everything (I love mine!), but keeping in mind my total cost (one for each kid) and what they look to do with the tablet in addition to keeping their iPod Touch devices, which would would make the most sense for me to get for them?

1. Kindle Fire HD 7" 16GB ($100 at Best Buy, 2012 model)
2. iPad Mini 16GB ($200 at Best Buy after $100 GC)
3. iPad Mini Retina 16 GB ($400 everywhere)

Thanks in advance for your comments and voting in this poll!

Kindle has some good children books for kids to read - be smart.

 

[donnaw]

Well, I let my kids make the decision. After looking at both at the store, I presented them with 2 options...each gets the Kindle plus cash towards other tech "toys" or the iPad Mini. They debated for a bit and each decided on the Kindle and cash (I think they each want a little TV or also are discussing a Wii U).

Anyway, what was odd is that they think the Kindle was "cooler" (which I completely disagree with), did what they wanted it to do (books, games, watch videos), and they thought the screen was much sharper (that I do agree with when compared to the 1st gen iPad Mini).

They each used them non-stop last night and are working on getting their best bang for the buck with the additional cash. Not the choice that I would have made, but I'm glad they did and recognize the opportunity to make choices with a $200 total budget (per kid) and will try to maximize their gifts for what they want/need.

For what it's worth I have a 5 year-old granddaughter who has one of my older iPad 2s. She saw my new 7" Kindle Fire HDX yesterday and fell in love with it too. She wants one badly. I asked her if she would give up her iPad and she didn't even hesitate and said yes. I'm thinking we may donate the iPad this Christmas to the local children's hospital and get her a new Fire.

Congrats on using this as a teaching moment. Learning to make decisions, especially early in life is one of the best things you can teach your kids. Whether it turns out to be right or wrong, they learn.

 

[jcoa332]

I bought my 8 year old son an iPad mini (1st gen) for his birthday this week and he loves it. Got the $100 gift card from Best Buy and immediately used it to buy the 2 year protection plan.

 

[Zmanbaseball2]

I say the iPad Mini 1st gen. All the apps they purchased through iTunes/App Store can be re-downloaded for free on the App Store.

 

[batotman]

My kids have the ipad 2 and ipad mini. The older kids, ages 8 and 11, prefer the larger screen of the 2. The younger kids, ages 6 and 2, prefer the smaller mini. My 8 year old was using a Mini but swapped for her siblings 2.

The retina Mini would be future proofing with the blazing fast A7 vs the aged A5 and might buy you a couple extra years. For those reasons, I'd go with an ipad mini retina or even a refurb ipad 4.

But then aganin, for the cost (especially at under $250), there's nothing wrong with the Mini. I quite like it and really only notice the lack of retina when reading websites in portrait mode.

The Kindle is nice but nobody who wants an iPad is satisfied with a Kindle. If you're heavily invested in Apple products then there's no sense in buying an Android device unless you don't mind buying apps twice or managing two ecosystems in the household. We have iPhones and 6 iPads in the house. I do have a Nexus 7 but only use it for work because its cheap and if it gets lost or broken I won't be heartbroken.

 

[dmk1974]

Great, I just saw that Amazon posted a Cyber Monday deal on the 2013 version of the Kindle Fire HD. 16 GB for $119. After taxes, it's just $11 more than the 2012 version I got them at Best Buy. Should I return those and get this newer one? Look like no front camera, but they don't need that.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C5W16B8/ref=fs_jw

 

[tears2040]

So glad these thing weren't around when my now 15 and 11 year old were little, they actually had a child hood. Different these days though, if us parents have them its hard to keep the kids away from them. And they both now have iPhone/ipod and iPad minis.

Not knocking your choice either Kids need to learn technology or they get left behind.

Childhood? I would say my daughter has an Excellent childhood and you have a very strong misconception if you think a tablet means they won't. Have you ever been in Japan, it just might surprise you what kids actually know....


Also myself I didn't really touch a computer until I was in my early 20s (30+ now) and wish I could have jumped on board earlier. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade their was a program I was elected for to be a part of the Apple new computers they were testing....

You could go on to some magnet school and be a part of development. I only did it for a couple of months and just quit, looking back who knows where I would be if I would have stayed......

It is in my strongest opinion the Apple simply makes the best products. While they now use off the shelf parts, they still wit their design and enclosures are really ahead of the game.

Kindle Fire while good for what it is, simply cannot compare to the Air.... What I do agree on though is if you had a choice between a Kindle Fire and nothing then the Fire is still a very great learning tool for kids as they have some excellent programs on the Amazon market.